Experts see slower growth
Two economic experts, one a college dean, the other an investment analyst, told local business leaders Thursday that Augusta's growth in 2000 will likely mirror the modest gains made during 1999.

Ceremony celebrates hotel
Local officials and business leaders Friday ceremoniously broke ground on a $15 million hotel that will add seven stories to downtown Augusta's skyline.

Business briefs
NEW YORK -- A profit warning by Lucent Technologies, a fan favorite on Wall Street, sent the company's shares plunging Friday, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq market shrugged off the news and staged a rebound from this week's steep drop.

Singer pays tribute to legend, friend
When Richard Conrad takes the stage Sunday to honor Sir Noel Coward in song at Poppy Seeds Cabaret on Walton Way, he'll be doing more than paying tribute to a theatrical legend.

Images are connection to God
SAVANNAH - Religious icons have stirred passions for centuries, caused schisms in Christianity and inspired the faithful to greater devotion to God.

Drama, not history
A long, proud history of villainy runs through the theater. An endless parade of dastardly schemers and evil mustache-twirlers have trod the boards, hatching plots and engaging in random back-stabbings -- and they all owe a debt to William Shakespeare's Richard III.

Tribute to R.E.M. unites bands through Internet
Taking their cue from the band that inspired them, 11 independent artists have applied a little do-it-yourself elbow grease and recorded Reconstructing the Fables, an album of reinterpretations of songs by music legends R.E.M.

Patience key for some plants
Daphne odora, also called winter daphne, has long been a part of Southern gardens. And its reputation for being fickle and somewhat difficult is as well known as the fragrant shrub itself.

Word of God can provide purpose
Since the Bible is God's true and lively word, you can take a passage of Scripture and allow God to speak directly to you about what is happening in your life. For example, consider elements of the Lord's Prayer:

Police search for robbers
The Aiken County Sheriff's Office is searching for three men who may have robbed a Beech Island business at gunpoint early Thursday.
The robbers fled the business with cash from the register and jewelry and money from customers. No one was injured. Full story
-- The Augusta Chronicle

Police investigate robbery in Aiken
WARRENVILLE - The Aiken County Sheriff's Office is investigating an early morning strong-arm robbery Friday of an Augusta man that occurred on Hillman Street in Warrenville.
Charles Youngblood, 22, of 1328 Jackson Road, Augusta, was in an Aiken bar and made arrangements with another patron to drive him home, according to police reports. At 2:20 a.m., Aiken County deputies found Mr. Youngblood sitting on the side of Hillman Road.
Full story -- The Augusta Chronicle

Candidates try to avoid flag issue
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A huge, three-day Confederate rally and re-enactment began here today -- the same day Republican presidential candidates were coming to South Carolina to debate.
Mere coincidence, the rally's organizers said.
But it's one very touchy issue for visiting candidates.
In this state, where some call the early Republican primary the ``Gateway to the South,'' a bitter argument over the Confederate flag flying above the Statehouse is no minor local issue.
Full story -- The Augusta Chronicle

ABC announces agreement with NAACP
NEW YORK -- ABC on Friday became the second of the four major networks to announce a deal with the NAACP to promote diversity in its ranks, agreeing among other things to tie executive bonuses to success in employing minorities.
Earlier in the week, NBC announced its own agreement, removing the threat of a boycott that the NAACP began considering last summer when it drew attention to the lack of minority actors on new fall shows.
ABC's deal is similar in that it concentrates more on changing the behind-the-scenes operations of the network in the hope that it eventually makes a difference in what goes on the air.
Full story -- The Augusta Chronicle

Trump likely to run for presidency
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. -- Donald Trump said today there is a ``very good possibility'' he will announce a $100 million campaign for the White House next month.
Asked in a brief interview with The Associated Press what would stop him from running at this point, he answered, ``Death.''
``There is a real chance that I will run,'' Trump told reporters aboard his private plane, a Boeing 727 emblazoned with his name in gold leaf. The plane landed in Minnesota this afternoon for Trump's meeting and appearance with Gov. Jesse Ventura, the Reform Party's highest-ranking public official.
Full story -- The Augusta Chronicle

Debate offers look at GOP hopefuls
COLUMBIA -- All six Republican presidential candidates will participate in a nationally televised debate tonight at the South Carolina GOP's Silver Elephant Banquet just six weeks before the crucial state's primary.

Whistle-blower's team files motion for fees
Attorneys who won a near four-year legal battle and then a courtroom victory for a Medicare fraud whistle-blower are seeking $480,000 in attorney fees from the trial losers.

Reading of list honors soldiers, builds tensions
COLUMBIA -- Friday's somber beginning of a three-day celebration of Southern heritage here gave no clue what to expect today, when thousands are expected to come to the defense of the Confederate flag that flies over South Carolina's capitol.

Experts rebut 'backfire' claim
Contrary to what Sajid Leslie told investigators after an ex-girlfriend's body was found in a burning car in April, his facial injuries were burns, expert witnesses testified Thursday.

Extradition hearings begin
COLUMBIA -- The attorney for the Edgefield County man accused of plotting an alleged murder-for-hire said Thursday his client shouldn't be extradited to Arkansas because he was in South Carolina when his estranged wife and her ex-husband were slain.

Documentary recounts city's history
Searing flames roil against the night sky, ripping through the skeletons of homes and businesses in downtown Augusta, reducing them to charred rubble and ash as a survivor remembers.

Savannah snares new company
SAVANNAH -- Dollar Tree, today's retail equivalent of the old-time five-and-dime, was a company in a hurry.

Abortions continue to decline
The number of abortions in the United States fell in 1997 to the lowest level in two decades, despite new drugs that make it easier to terminate a pregnancy.

Defense points to friends
One of the men whom Sajid Leslie's defense attorneys want a jury to perceive as a prime suspect in Lori Hastings' death was working miles away at the time she burned to death, he testified Friday.

Hot spots flare, destroying family's home
So much for luck. Just hours after firefighters had breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday after saving most of a $265,000 home from ruin, the fire flared again and destroyed the residence in Edgefield County's Merriwether community.

County OKs bid for land
LANGLEY -- In a unanimous vote, the Aiken County legislative delegation reaffirmed its commitment Thursday to provide up to $100,000 to Aiken County in its bid to purchase a portion of the waterfront of Langley Pond.

Hodges budget to boost education
COLUMBIA -- Gov. Jim Hodges made good on his campaign promise to bolster education reform Thursday when he unveiled a $5.4 billion budget that leans heavily on school improvements.

Man gets 30 years for robbery, assault
A man who preyed on elderly Augusta residents in a one-man crime spree this summer received a 30-year prison sentence Friday, thanks in part to one victim's yardman.

Resignation law touted
ATLANTA -- Rural economic development and ethics highlight Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor's agenda for the 2000 General Assembly, which kicks off next week at the Capitol.

Flag response sparks crowd
WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Nobody knows how it would play to a national audience, but Texas Gov. George W. Bush endeared himself to Republicans in South Carolina Friday when he said it's up to the state's residents to decide whether a Confederate flag should fly on the Capitol dome.

Hopeful wins backing of recent Republican `hero'
WASHINGTON -- Lindsey Graham is back on the national scene. But rather than trying to impeach a president, the South Carolina Republican is attempting to drum up support for a new one. And he is convinced that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is the man this country needs in the Oval Office.

Veterans addressed
William Oscar Baker, Bernard Faulkner and Joe Wilder all came to a military and veterans health care roundtable discussion Friday for one thing. They wanted to talk to U.S. Sen. Max Cleland about health care problems they were facing as veterans.

Across the area
Richmond County investigators were looking for a man late Friday wanted in connection with an armed robbery. Before 11:45 p.m., 24-year-old Michael Maurice Hartfield, of the 200 block of East Telfair Street, entered the Rags 'N' Things store at 795 Eve St., posing as a customer, said Chief Deputy Ronald Strength.

Senator touts new research building
Medical College of Georgia would get $5 million for a new research building under a proposed supplemental budget, with the money ironically coming from funds recovered from two convicted former MCG researchers.

Senator selects chorus
NORTH AUGUSTA -- It's been said that everyone is famous for five minutes. If that's so, members of the North Augusta Concert Chorus are hogging the spotlight. It was announced Friday that the 43-member group will perform in the Senate Rotunda on April 29 for at least half an hour.

Walker announces education reform
Augusta will get its share of state taxpayer booty this year, and Georgia ``will begin a long and tough march toward real education reform,'' state Sen. Charles Walker said Friday.

Corrections
Because of inaccurate information provided to The Augusta Chronicle, a story in the Tuesday issue incorrectly reported the cost of renumbering blue business logo signs along Georgia interstates and the company doing the work. The story should have said the project would cost about $100,000, and that Atlanta-based Georgia Logos Inc. was responsible for the renumbering, not Lamar Outdoor Advertising of Augusta.

Gives reservations about dress code
I am writing to express my concern for the public school system in Richmond County. My daughter attends an area middle school and has been singled out on several occasions regarding the dress code. She was required to spend a whole day in ``in-house'' suspension where she was not given her normal classroom assignments for the day, but made to repeatedly copy the dress code instead. She is currently, and has been, struggling in a couple of her academic courses.
Kathie Hood, Augusta

Raps paper's choice of comic strips
I'm sure I am way too late, but thought I'd get my two cents worth in anyway. The subject is the loss of Peanuts and its replacement, if there is to be one.
}Bill Scholly, Evans

Where's DOT notice?
The Georgia Department of Transportation is doing the right thing by converting Interstate 20 exit numbers to mile markers.

Y2K bug bites veep
The ``genius'' who ``invented the Internet'' and also led the federal response to the Y2K problem is smarting after being bitten by the Y2K bug himself -- one of a very few such incidents.

Quotes Grizzard
The newspapers and politicians, with few exceptions, have been busy in the Confederate flag furling business. May we call upon our old democratic friend vox populi (``the voice of the people'')? Isn't that what democracy is all about? When ``vox does its thing,'' there's little room to kick.
Harry Hallman, Belvedere

Labels NAACP flag effort 'racist'
Dan Piper's recent letter was right about the ongoing bashing of the Confederate flag. I didn't know that I was a racist person until the latest demand that the only place for the Confederate flag is the relic room. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored people has brought this out in me.
J. Adams, Martinez

Big brother looming?
The U.S. Labor Department at first retreated from and, finally, withdrew an inflammatory advisory letter giving the Occupational Safety and Health Administration the authority to inspect and regulate work place safety for employees working at home.

Blasts staff rudeness at animal shelter
I am writing in regard to conditions I encountered at the Richmond County Animal Control Facility on Dec. 28 at 1:30 p.m. It was very cold but I stopped by the facility after lunch to find a dog for adoption.
Erika Widener, Augusta

Suggests port authority for CSRA
The answer to our river's assets cannot be solved individually, or even by any one individual government or entity. The river belongs to all of us. It's our source of drinking water and recreation. There are four jurisdictions over the Savannah River: the states of South Carolina and Georgia, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers. Therefore, the responsibility is dependent on everyone to take part and spread the load.
Frank D. Harrisson, Augusta

Ga. ethics law is no model
When two grand juries recommended a stronger ethics ordinance for Augusta, city Commissioner Jerry Brigham commented he didn't see why one was needed because the city already comes under the state ethics code.

Wants campaign to save the riverfront
The lack of interest our local government, and the public in general, has taken in news concerning the decommissioning and ultimate removal of the New Savannah River Lock and Dam is almost inconceiveable.
H. Earl Thompson, Augusta

Says group will overcome reactionaries
Re the Jan. 4 letter by Frances L. Bell, chairwoman of the South Carolina Council of Conservative Citizens, titled ``Hits NAACP's part in `race war''':
Alexander Smith, Augusta

Cites Summerville's low water pressure
South Augusta is not the only area in the city to have a substandard water supply. The Summerville area also has low pressure and volume and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why.
Charles J. Scavullo Sr., Augusta

Gives viewpoint on Rocker flap
Columnist Cal Thomas, and Rick Dorsey's Dec. 28 article, wrongfully stated that Braves pitcher John Rocker slandered black Americans by his controversial ignorant comments. Mr. Rocker stated the following: ``Imagine having to take the No. 7 train to Shea Stadium looking like you're in Beirut. Next to some kid with purple hair. Next to some queer with AIDS. Right next to some dude who got out of jail for the fourth time. Right next to some 20 year old man with four kids. It's depressing.''
Brian Green, Augusta

Opposes classroom as 'punishment'
There is more than one issue I could debate with your editorial on Dec. 30, ``18 lost schools,'' but I must respond to the one that screams out at me. Surely the pressures of the holidays and early deadlines caused the editorial writer not to carefully consider the consequences of the recommendation, ``... reassign them to a classroom.''
Juanita F. Doss, Martinez

Slams writer for 'insulting' comments
For the last two weeks The Chronicle sports columnist Rick Dorsey has had little to say aboutBraves pitcher John Rocker except insults. He has jumped on the politically correct band-wagon by overusing his right to free speech while attempting to squelch Mr. Rocker's right to the same thing. Mr. Dorsey needs to take some of his own advice in his Jan. 4 column on ``learning from his mistakes and keeping his mouth shut.'' That is what he recommended Mr. Rocker do; however, I suspect he could learn a little as well.
David Chiera, Augusta

Hits publication of funeral photo
I read with interest the caption below a Jan. 2 front page photograph by Ron Cockerille. It read: ``Joshua Wilson has a moment alone to pay his last respects to his wife, Tiffaney, who was buried Saturday.''
Justen Wonderly, Evans

CDC issues drug-resistant bacteria warning
ATLANTA -- The government is warning hospitals that some strains of Staph bacteria may be drug-resistant after confirming that a woman died from a heart valve infection that didn't respond to antibiotics.

President fights against cyber-terrorism
WASHINGTON -- Stepping up vigilance against cyber-terrorism, President Clinton plans to announce a new initiative Friday to protect federal computers from infiltrators.

Anyone wanna buy a used book on a bug?
NEW YORK -- Dermot McGuigan, co-author of the survival guide ``Y2K & Y-O-U,'' now worries about the survival of his own book. ``It first came out in 1998 and it's going to be republished under its original name, `Your Resilient Home,''' McGuigan, an energy consultant based in Burlington, Vt., said Tuesday. ``All the same information will be there, except the Y2K stuff will be downplayed.''

Catholic Church believes in Web
WASHINGTON -- Residents of the abbeys, monasteries and convents of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide are using the Internet to illuminate their faith, tapping computer keyboards with the same fervor that medieval monks once held quills.

Taiwan's largest chipmaker to buy third largest
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's largest computer chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., said Friday it will buy the island's third largest producer in a stock swap that analysts valued at more than $3 billion.